Edmonton Oilers left wing Nail Yakupov (64) crashes into teammate and goalie Devan Dubnyk during the first period of NHL action in Edmonton, Alta., on Monday, November 25, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Ulan

“I thought it was probably a 3-1 game,” Eakins said in his post-game media availability.

Which is one way to look at it. And you could see the rookie NHL head coach’s point, but only up to a point. After all, the Blackhawks first goal came as a result of a weird giveaway by winger Nail Yakupov at the Chicago blueline during an Edmonton power play.

Off on a long, clear breakaway went Blackhawks captain, one of the world’s best players, Jonathan Toews. He deked Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk and whipped a forehand wrist shot high into the empty net. 1-0 Blackhawks at 5:14 of the opening period.

Less than three minutes later, 35 seconds into a Blackhawks power play, there was Patrick Kane with an easy finish to make it 2-0. Chicago’s third goal was a slap shot from the point by Johnny Oduya that popped up into the air off Dubnyk, off Oilers defenceman Corey Potter and past the helpless goalie.

Dubnyk was yanked after the fourth Chicago goal, a tap-in by Andrew Shaw to finish off a three-on-one at 5:49 of the second period But none of the “craziness” was Dubnyk’s fault. This was, Eakins stressed, strictly a mercy pull.

Anyway, if, as Eakins insisted, the Oilers had been “excited to play” the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks at the morning skate, the frisson of anticipation had worn off before the first period was 10 minutes old. It really disappeared after that Potter. . .oops, Oduya goal.

But, never mind calibrating whether this was a two-goal or a four-goal loss on merit, a better calculation might have been that this was the Chicago Blackhawks, not the Calgary Flames (4-2), Columbus Blue Jackets (7-0) or the Florida Panthers (4-1), all victimized by the Oilers as they assembled a modest three-game winning streak.

Modest, it must be said, owing to the quality of competition, as much as anything else. If those victories had infused the Oilers with any enthusiasm, confidence, mojo, it sure didn’t show in the first period against the Blackhawks.

The Oilers were lucky to escape the period down just 2-0, but that was plenty for the Blackhawks, the way their goalie, Corey Crawford was playing, not to mention their deep, gifted lineup.

“I like to rate players after the game,” Eakins said. “And it’s either you were a negative, you were even, or you were a plus, you did something to help us.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of guys that you could give any pluses to. We weren’t there. It may have been a product of being down 2-0 very early.

“But we had a day off, and a couple of good days of practice, so I really felt we were ready to go.”

That was not the case, which is inexcusable, really. This was meant to be a reality check, litmus test, trot out whatever stock phrase you fancy. After stumbling around through 21 games, then fashioning a bit of a winning streak, the Oilers had a chance to measure themselves against the best in the business.

They came off poorly, to say the least. And, doing the math, with few or no players on the plus side of the ledger, the starting goalie blameless, the 5-1 score probably flattered the Oilers and Eakins knows it. So, you’d have to think did the Oilers. Their fans sure did.

So desperate were the fans to root for something, that they were waaaaayyy over the top in welcoming Ilya Bryzgalov to the net, after Eakins executed the mercy pull of Dubnyk. They also cheered the Russian goalie’s every move, for a while. Which was disrespectful to Dubnyk, and probably a more accurate measure of fan frustration than anything.

The Oilers players were frustrated too, not that they had any particular diagnosis for their desultory performance.

“We just didn’t have it tonight, it just wasn’t there,” said defenceman Justin Schultz, whose wicked one-timer at 8:08 of the second period was Edmonton’s only goal. “We’ve just got to forget about this, learn from it and move on.”

That goal came as a result of some diligent board work by Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the kind of shift the Oilers needed plenty more of to be able to compete with the Blackhawks, wire-to-wire.

“That’s the way we were playing in the last few games and it worked out for us,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We got away from that tonight, for whatever reason that was.

“We’ve got to get back to that and play in the offensive zone. When we’re breaking the puck out clean, is when we’re playing our best hockey.”

The nifty centre had no answers for the club’s poor performance, either.

“After (the slow start), I thought we played better,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “At the start of the game, we weren’t playing our game at all.

“We just came out a little flat, it definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to start. It wasn’t the way we started the past few games. We’ve got to get back to that; this is a good team (Chicago), but I definitely thought we could have done a better job tonight.”

The truth is the Oilers were exposed, really, by the Blackhawks. Shown up for what they are: a flawed team; soft in their own zone; easily discouraged; challenged when it comes to what the hockey people call ‘structure.’

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